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All year long, Clark.com’s Michael Timmermann is sharing quick and easy ways to save money as part of our Michael Saves series. Check in every Monday as he puts new and familiar savings strategies to the test. Sign up for our newsletter to have these stories delivered to your inbox!

If you’re active on social media, you’ve probably seen your family and friends post pictures of their Instant Pot meals.

I’ve been using the programmable pressure cooker since the middle of last year and can say that it’s saved me a lot of time and money. The kitchen gadget is so easy to use that I don’t mind throwing together dinner after a long day.

Although I regularly use my Instant Pot already, I recently challenged myself to cook with it for two weeks straight.

Instant Pot challenge: What I learned from cooking with my Instant Pot every day for two weeks

There’s a bit of trial and error involved with pressure cooking, so I’ve decided to share my journey with you and hope that maybe it will help you prepare budget-friendly meals at home.

Here are seven things I learned from my Instant Pot challenge…

1. Skip the stovetop and use the sauté function

The Instant Pot is so much more than just a pressure cooker. It’s also a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sauté, yogurt maker and warmer.

Aside from the pressure cooker function, I use the sauté button most frequently.

Several of the new recipes I tried required both the sauté and pressure cooker functions. I started by sautéeing vegetables in the pot, then added the rest of the ingredients and switched to pressure-cooker mode.

That means there’s just one pot to clean at the end of the night — the Instant Pot’s stainless steel inner pot.

2. You can cook pasta in a pressure cooker

I never really thought about making pasta in the Instant Pot until I saw this recipe for vegan macaroni and cheese.

If you like your pasta cooked al dente, this might not be for you. It turned out more on the well-done side after 10 minutes of cooking and a 10-minute natural pressure release.

The best part was not having to babysit the stovetop while waiting for water to boil. The Instant Pot makes it easier!

3. Make use of the rice button

If you like to eat white rice, the Instant Pot’s rice program is your kitchen helper. I just put equal parts rice and water into the pot and pressed the rice button, which takes the guesswork out of setting the cook time.

You can manually set the time if you prefer, but the button is the easy way to do it — and the rice turned out so fluffy.

6. Homemade hummus just tastes better

Hummus probably isn’t the most expensive thing in your grocery cart, but you can still save money by making it at home.

I’ve tried to make hummus before, but it didn’t taste anything like this recipe from Instant Pot Eats. It’s the best hummus ever! You cook the chickpeas in the Instant Pot and use a blender to make a smooth, creamy dip.

If you’re having people over for the Super Bowl or any other occasion, you can’t go wrong with homemade hummus.

7. Don’t give up your regular slow cooker

I used the Instant Pot’s slow cooker function to make red wine hot chocolate for the challenge and it was delicious. But past experience taught me to keep my old Crock-Pot around.

I can’t explain why, but I think the Instant Pot’s slow cooker mode doesn’t work as well as a regular slow cooker.

If you’ve had a different experience or can do a better job of explaining the difference between an Instant Pot and Crock-Pot for slow cooking, leave me a comment below.

Final thought

When I added up my receipts from the grocery store, I spent a total of $138.08 for the ingredients to complete my 14-day Instant Pot challenge — and I have plenty of leftover ingredients to follow these recipes again.

If you’re someone who struggles with meal planning, a challenge like the one I followed can help you get in the habit of preparing meals at home, which is the real secret to saving money — not the Instant Pot itself.